Chapter 33: Canceling the Engagement

Shen Changqing woke up feeling as heavy as lead all over, like he’d been beaten black and blue the night before. A trace of lingering fear still clutched at his heart, impossible to shake off.

He rubbed his brow, dragged himself out of bed, and washed up. Lifting his eyes to the mirror, he spotted the dark circles under them.

Shen Changqing: ……

He hadn’t slept well last night. Must’ve been a nightmare.

The details were fuzzy, but he knew it had something to do with his fiancé, Luo Shang.

Only that man could terrify him like this…

Reaching up, he massaged his temples.

Just thinking about still being Luo Shang’s fiancé made Shen Changqing’s skin crawl. He wanted nothing to do with that horrifying figure, yet avoiding him wasn’t an option. If he tried, Luo Shang wouldn’t hesitate to kill him—and now that Luo Shang had the Corpse Manipulation Scroll, dispatching him would be child’s play.

For the sake of his own survival, he needed to keep in closer touch with Su Mingyao…

Right—he had to raise the matter of canceling the engagement, and soon!

It was what he wanted, what Luo Shang wanted, and what Su Mingyao wanted. The sooner, the better.

Old Master Shen, however, wouldn’t be easy to convince.

Shen Changqing had hinted at his dissatisfaction with Su Shang before, even joking about calling off the engagement. Instead of agreement, he’d gotten a stern refusal and a thorough scolding from Old Master Shen.

Unlike the Su Family, the Shen Family was still firmly under his grandfather Shen Zhijian’s control. True to his name, Old Master Shen was stubbornly set in his ways. Once he decided on something, he never budged.

To him, Shen Changqing—B City’s Outstanding Youth Representative—was little more than a child. The old-fashioned patriarch believed in the ironclad rule of parental commands and matchmaker’s words. What could possibly be wrong with the marriage?

He’d laid eyes on Su Shang himself; the boy was handsome enough. A little wild in his youth? No matter—he’d settle down after the wedding. Old Master Shen had never taken Shen Changqing’s hints or protests seriously.

Shen Changqing knew all this. He was a rational man. His original plan had been to wait until he’d built up enough power of his own before broaching the subject.

But then…

Luo Shang’s awakening in the hospital had upended every plan and shattered every rule!

The man was too powerful to defy. As a mere mortal, Shen Changqing had no choice but to follow the path Luo Shang had laid out.

Which meant he had to act now—today. The sooner, the better!

Any hesitation, and Shen Changqing could practically feel the Grim Reaper breathing down his neck, scythe gleaming. And that Reaper? It wore Luo Shang’s face.

~~~

I have to protect my brother’s fiancé and his marriage, Shen Zhulin told herself.

Even if her brother’s fiancé wasn’t official yet, and Luo Shang and Shen Changqing weren’t married.

The mere thought of Su Shang—no, Luo Shang now—sent her heart racing, adrenaline flooding her veins.

She mistook that instinctive fear for affection.

Poor Luo Shang. The Su Family had used him as a stand-in for years, letting him take the fall for Su Mingyao until he nearly died. And in the end? They’d discarded him.

That No Blood Relation Identification Document had Su Family fingerprints all over it—timed perfectly with Su Mingyao’s grand return to strip away Su Shang’s identity. Who else would dare pull a stunt like that in public?

If Su Shang had been Su Mingyao’s body double, then the engagement to her brother must have been part of the package, standing in for Su Mingyao’s original match. Now that Su Mingyao was back, they’d just swap partners.

No way!

Her brother’s fiancé couldn’t be some scheming lowlife who’d sacrificed another person’s life to save his own. Luo Shang was far too pitiable for that!

By now, yesterday’s banquet drama had surely spread everywhere. And the one person who could decide Shen Changqing’s engagement to the Su Family? Grandpa.

As long as Grandpa held firm, the Su Family couldn’t unilaterally change their marriage alliance.

Shen Zhulin’s eyes sparkled with resolve. She’d go talk to him. Grandpa doted on her. If she exposed Su Mingyao’s vicious true colors, he’d never let such a toxic person become her brother’s partner!

Decision made, Shen Zhulin set her plan in motion.

~~~

As Shen Changqing made his way to Old Master Shen’s quarters, he ran into his sister Shen Zhulin in the corridor.

The younger generation of the Shen Family rarely sought out Old Master Shen without good reason. He was going because of the engagement—so what brought his sister to see Grandpa?

Shen Zhulin shot him a conspiratorial wink, and Shen Changqing’s gut twisted with unease.

He knocked on the door. Permission granted, he stepped inside Old Master Shen’s room. His posture was respectful, his expression solemn as he regarded the elder seated behind the rosewood desk.

“Sit,” Old Master Shen said.

Ever since Shen Changqing had grown up and begun taking over the Shen family business, the once harmonious relationship between grandfather and grandson had suddenly turned serious. Compared to a grandfather, Shen Zhijian now seemed more like his superior.

“Grandpa, there’s something I want to tell you,” Shen Changqing said.

“Oh?”

“I want to cancel my engagement to Luo Shang.”

“Changqing, this is a business marriage,” Shen Zhijian replied. “It’s a business alliance between the Shen family and the Su family, not child’s play. You need to give me a reason.”

“I don’t like Luo Shang,” Shen Changqing said.

“Your parents didn’t like each other at first sight either. Things got better as they spent more time together. I think Su Shang is a good kid.” Shen Zhijian spoke calmly.

Shen Changqing knew he was in trouble the moment he heard that. It was already the second day, and news about Su Shang not being the Su family’s biological child—and his name change to Luo Shang—should have spread everywhere by now. There was no way Grandpa didn’t know.

The fact that he was still calling Luo Shang by his original name, Su Shang, could only mean that Old Master Shen still saw him as one of the Su family. That made it hard to sway him with the excuse that Luo Shang wasn’t a blood relative.

“If it’s a business marriage, I believe marrying Su Mingyao would better serve the Shen family’s interests. Compared to Su Shang, Su Mingyao hasn’t learned anything about managing businesses yet, so he’d be easier for me to influence.”

That was what Shen Changqing meant. If it were Su Mingyao, the dowry he brought—the Su family assets—would naturally fall into his hands due to Mingyao’s own incompetence at management.

But Luo Shang was a different story; he wouldn’t be easy to manipulate.

“So, you’ve taken a liking to the newly recognized Su Mingyao from the Su family?” Shen Zhijian asked.

“The Shen family hasn’t fallen so low that we’d use your marriage to covet a bit of dowry…” He looked up, giving Shen Changqing a meaningful glance.

“That’s not a good enough reason. It doesn’t sound like you.”

Shen Changqing’s heart skipped a beat.

“It seems Little Bamboo was right,” Shen Zhijian said.

Shen Changqing: ??

What had Shen Zhulin said?

“She said Su Mingyao isn’t a good person. The moment he returned to the Su family, he started seducing you and even met you for a rendezvous in the Su family’s back garden. I thought she was just talking nonsense and misjudging people—after all, she’s only sixteen—but judging from your reaction, it looks like you really do prefer Su Mingyao.”

“What the Shen family needs is a partner who can support you mutually and help your career. We don’t need someone with just a pretty face. Do you understand?”

Though Su Shang had a reputation as a playboy in B City, he also possessed real business talent.

Back then, Su Shang had spotted potential early on. When variety shows were just starting to boom, he invested heavily in an obscure little traffic star, propelling them to fame and using that as a springboard to break into the entertainment industry. He founded Star Path Entertainment and carved out a huge slice of the market for the Su family.

Sure, others said the company formation and all that came later were all part of Su Bingyao’s long-term plan—that Su Shang had just recklessly promoted someone and his older brother cleaned up the mess.

But Shen Zhijian could see that if Su Shang hadn’t deliberately poured money into that person, the Su family wouldn’t have paid attention to the field at all. As the youngest son, still a minor at the time, he couldn’t even serve as a legal representative for a company, so naturally, he had to step back and hand it over to his brother.

Su Shang had shown that kind of foresight at such a young age. So what if he wasn’t the Su family’s biological child?

He had still been raised by the Su family. Shen Zhijian didn’t believe that after more than twenty years, the Su family had no feelings for him at all.

Besides, not being a biological child was hardly a flaw.

If he married Shen Changqing and still prioritized the Su family’s interests, that would be a real problem for the alliance.

Shen Zhijian had noticed Shen Changqing’s resistance to Su Shang. He was similar in that regard—he preferred partners who were more submissive. Su Shang could stand on equal footing with him, which was why Shen Changqing had never liked him.

In Shen Zhijian’s view, that dynamic was actually a good thing. If Shen Changqing wanted to dominate his future partner, Su Shang, he would have to push himself to become stronger, driving constant progress.

Among the Su family, aside from Su Bingyao, only Su Shang was an option. Su Bingyao was set to inherit the family business and couldn’t marry out, leaving no other choices. Shen Changqing had no alternatives.

But now, he did.

Someone even more submissive than Su Shang, and closer to the Su family.

Shen Zhijian hadn’t bought Shen Zhulin’s tales of seduction at first—her words didn’t carry much weight with him. But now Shen Changqing had come straight out and demanded a change in the marriage partner.

Before this, even when dissatisfied, he’d only hinted at his objections, never opposing so directly.

What had changed Changqing? Was it that Su Mingyao?

Did Su Mingyao hold that much appeal for him? Shen Zhijian wondered.

“Grandpa, Mingyao isn’t the kind of person you think he is!” Shen Changqing blurted out, realizing in an instant that he was in deep trouble.

If Shen Zhijian took a dim view of Su Mingyao, there was no way he’d agree to switch the marriage alliance partner—not for anything in the world. Shen Changqing would be finished!

Luo Shang would kill him!